MISS JOELENE IS DOING HERSELF PROUD

By Graham Potter | Sunday, June 9, 2024

While the focus remained firmly on the Socks Nation and Our Gold Hope’s battle over the concluding stages of the Group 1 Queensland Oaks, the Kelly Schweida trained Miss Joelene finished best of the rest with this Group 1 third place franking the form that she showed in The Roses, a race in which she claimed a fast finishing third place just three-quarters-of-a-length behind the much vaunted Scarlet Oak.

Miss Joelene has always oozed potential. As a two-year-old she finished fourth in both the Group 1 J.J. Atkins behind King Colorado (who would go on to contest a Cox Plate) and the Group 2 Sires Produce where she finished just 1,50 lengths behind Cifrado ... and it is a credit to the stable that she continues to set a high bar and clear it with flying colours.

She certainly would be due for ... and very much deserve ... a big race win when it arrives.

“She pulled up well (after The Oaks),” confirmed Schweida, speaking a day after the big race.

“She just loves it. The more you give her, the more she wants. She’s put on a kilo or two since the start of the prep which is most unusual. She is just jumping out of her skin.

“She is quite remarkable. She is not the biggest girl, but she is tough!

“It was a weirdly run race yesterday. We wanted to ride her quiet from a bad gate (Miss Joelene drew seventeen out of eighteen). We always wanted to go back, but we would have liked to be a bit closer.

“Jimmy (Orman) said he was trying to get on the back of some of the better ones, but they weren’t taking him anywhere ... they didn’t take him into the race.

“He gave it a gun ride and she ran super.

“She is just like her mother. Her mother, Cellargirl, ran third in a Group 1 ... the Flight Stakes ... and then third in the Group 2 Tea Rose ... and this little filly is doing that now, so they are very similar, but this one has got a little bit more staying power.

“It would be lovely if she could win a Group 1 somewhere. Jimmy is such a great rider, it’s a family horse. It would be pretty special, not only for me and obviously for the owners ... but especially for Jimmy Orman if he can get his first Group 1 win on this horse.

“I’m not sure where we will go next. I was just talking to the owner this morning and we are going to have a think about it.

“We certainly have a lot of options.”

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